modules
of video content
days to complete
Master this course in less than 2 weeks!
The most effective way to engage in continuous education is to spend no more than 30 minutes per day on the course. Upon enrollment, you will gradually gain access to the modules, with new ones becoming available every 2 days. By committing 20-30 minutes every 2 days, you will complete the entire course in about 8 days.
What will you learn?
- Primary reasons and useful strategies to develop your skills as a peer reviewer
- The important role and key responsibilities of a peer reviewer
- Essential characteristics of the review process and the peer reviewer
- Acceptable peer reviewing timelines and variations by subject area
- Key trends and developments that are affecting peer reviews today
- Approaches to anonymity in peer review and issues with publishing review reports
- Must have attributes editors want in reviewers and reviewer responsibilities to the editor
- How to hide identity and maintain anonymity in peer review
- The important role of an editor in the peer review process
- How to write a review report and best practices for peer reviewers
- Unethical practices that peer reviewers must avoid
- An editor’s role in managing author-reviewer conflicts and dealing with opposing review reports
Course Description
A natural progression for experienced researchers is to become a peer reviewer for others in their field.
In this course, you will discover what it takes to become a peer reviewer and a reviewer’s key responsibilities both toward authors and the editor. Learn about the role journal editors play in the peer review process, what they are looking for when they select peer reviewers, and how they manage and deal with conflicts within the process. You’ll also learn more about the reviewing experience and the key trends and developments affecting in peer review today.
This course has 9 modules, each consisting of an educational video, a module-specific multiple-choice question to check your understanding, and additional resources on the topic.
Course Author: Andrew Moore
Andrew Moore has a degree in Biochemistry and doctorate/post-doctorate research experience in Structural Studies and Molecular Biology. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of the journal
BioEssays and the Wiley Researcher Academy as well as a Program Manager and Editor at the European Molecular Biology Organization. Currently, as a freelance writer and writing coach, Andrew uses valuable insights gained from over 20 years of experience in academic publishing by coaching researchers to communicate science more effectively.
Course Curriculum
- Introduction to module 2 (1 min)
- Seven characteristics of peer-review (6 min)
- Scrutiny of experts and other characteristics of a reviewer (5 min)
- The reviewer as a consultant (3 min)
- Voluntary nature of peer review (2 min)
- Reviewing timescales (4 min)
- Module 2 recap (1 min)
- Check your understanding
- Further reading
- Introduction to module 5 (1 min)
- Essential qualities of peer reviewers (6 min)
- Reviewer responsibilities: Provide critical and constructive evaluation (3 min)
- Reviewer responsibilities: Provide recommendations & Meet the deadline (5 min)
- Reviewer responsibilities: Declare conflicts of interest & Maintain confidentiality (6 min)
- Module 5 recap (1 min)
- Check your understanding
- Further reading
- Introduction to module 7 (1 min)
- The reviewer report (3 min)
- Practices for writing a reviewer report: Generate trust (5 min)
- Practices for writing a reviewer report: Clarity, Criticism, and Structure (4 min)
- Giving feedabck (4 min)
- Plagiarism & Using confidential field for the editor (6 min)
- Unethical practices (4 min)
- Module 7 recap (1 min)
- Check your understanding
- Further reading